IBM to Acquire Rembo Technology to Automate Software Installation Across Thousands of PCs and Servers

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IBM today announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Rembo Technology, a privately held software company based in Geneva, Switzerland. Financial details were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2006.

Rembo is a leading provider of software that helps organizations automatically install or upgrade operating systems on thousands of servers, laptops and desktop computers simultaneously, which eliminates the need for IT specialists to spend days or weeks installing software manually on each physical or virtualized computer.

Installing and configuring an operating system on a single computer can take more than two hours. Multiply that by thousands of systems spread across a sprawling virtualized IT environment, and labor costs can spiral out of control -- while business can slow to a crawl as computers are pulled offline. A government switching to Linux would need to send IT specialists, armed with installation disks, to every office across the region while workers and computers sit idle as the software is changed.

However, with Rembo software, an IT administrator can install operating systems from a centralized "dashboard" in a few minutes -- so online business functions can continue unabated.

Rembo's security features can protect workstations used by multiple people in a virtualized environment by automatically "wiping away" operating systems and personal data after each use and re-installing clean software. For example, university students using computer kiosks could inadvertently introduce a computer virus or leave personal information on the hard drive. With Rembo software, every time a student logs off, the infected software and hard drive would be automatically stripped, and the original operating system re-installed.

Enhanced data security also can help companies address compliance with government and industry mandates such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II.

Rembo has more than 800 customers worldwide that come from government, education and other key industries. Customers include the City of Munich, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Groupe Mutuel Assurances, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, International Committee of the Red Cross, PSA Peugeot-Citröen, South Birmingham College, Universidad de Sevilla, University of Nottingham, University of South Australia and University of Wisconsin.

"Rembo software makes installing an operating system across thousands of physical and virtual computers fast and efficient," said Al Zollar, general manager, IBM Tivoli software. "With Rembo software, organizations can bring down the cost of managing and securing software across open, diverse environments, which is a key benefit of IT service management."

IBM's IT service management offerings automate and simplify the way companies manage their infrastructures. With IT service management, companies can handle IT processes the same way they manage business processes, which helps improve efficiency, effectiveness and agility.

Rembo will also extend IBM's virtualization capabilities, covering software, hardware and services. Virtualization helps make it simpler and less expensive for companies to integrate and improve the performance of hardware, software, storage and networks in open and heterogeneous environments. It enables governments, banks, retailers and other organizations to view and manage many virtual IT resources as one, and dynamically change them as needed.

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